Recent developments in human auxiliary transportation systems, both for general assisted mobility applications and for recreational and emergency off-road applications, have lead to the development of various three and four-wheel vehicles, typically smaller in size than an automobile, which are designed to transport one or two persons off-road for relatively long distances over rough terrain into remote areas. Such vehicles are commonly known as all-terrain vehicles or ATV's and are known in the art. ATV's are used routinely by hunters, fishermen, forest service employees and law enforcement agencies for transportation into the national forests and other public lands where access by conventional motor vehicles is impossible. In addition, ATVs find wide application in the agricultural and ranching industries where they are used by farmers and ranchers in livestock round-ups, feed delivery, fence mending and other maintenance activities which are undertaken in off-road areas.
In the health care field, three and four-wheel motorized conveyance devices, commonly known as mobility scooters or mobility carriers, have been developed to assist patients recovering from various types of mobility-limiting injuries, the elderly and the handicapped in getting out and about in their daily activities. Such devices also include motorized wheel chairs adapted to transport people and their required health care apparatus, oxygen tanks and crutches, by way of example, from parking lots into stores, shopping malls and along sidewalks for routine outings in recreation situations.
While some models of motorized devices used in the health care field are sufficiently small and light to be transported in the trunk or back seat of an automobile, many of the aforementioned vehicles, particularly the recreational ATV's, are commonly transported in vans, pickup trucks or on trailers; inasmuch as some of the larger four and six-wheel designs, can weigh up to 700 pounds. Loading and unloading heavy ATV's from the bed of a pickup truck, a van or a trailer typically requires the use of a ramp and often more than one individual to assist in the operation. Moreover, the ramp itself, may be heavy and cumbersome to move and position and takes up additional space in the vehicle, thereby limiting space that would otherwise be available for storage of other gear. Accordingly, a need has arisen for a lightweight and easily maneuverable and operable means of transporting motorized conveyance vehicles for use in health care, agricultural, off-road recreational, law enforcement and similar applications where the auxiliary vehicle, ATV, lawn care implement, and the like, may be transported from its storage area to another location and off-loaded for use.
Various vehicle-mounted carrying racks have been devised to address the foregoing requirements and are known in the art. Such racks may be removably attached to the rear trailer hitch receiver of an automobile, pickup truck or sport utility vehicle (SUV) so equipped. One such carrying rack is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,139,247 issued Oct. 31, 2000 to Wright, and other prior art devices of similar construction and application are disclosed in the patents cited therein. While the Wright device disclosed in the '247 patent has experienced considerable commercial success, it has been found that the overall weight, size, and shape of the disclosed system are such that a single individual, especially a person of slender build or who has physical limitations may not be able to mount the apparatus on a motor vehicle or load and unload their ATV's onto the carrier without the assistance of others. This is particularly disadvantageous for individuals who live alone or who live in remote areas, where assistance is not readily available. Accordingly, a need clearly exists for a lightweight, auxiliary vehicle carrier which may be removably mounted to a motor vehicle by a single individual without the assistance of others and which may be used to load, transport and unload ATV's and other types of auxiliary vehicles by an individual user.